kravietz 🦇Cash payments for anything more than a bag of potatoes have been subject to KYC and general scrutiny by banks since like forever, in the UK and EU and everywhere. Main reason for that is kind of obvious: cash has been the driver of tax evasion and black market like forever too. Can't really think of a legitimate purchase today where you'd be paying 10k... in cash.
Br0m3x@kravietz
Probably many think in the similar way.
They also claim #Ihavenothingtohide.
I use cards only to withdraw money from ATM and to buy e.g airline tickets or very rare to buy something online.
I often even give a deposit in cash at hotels. If venues don't accept cash I go to other places. Is it tax evasion?
@rysiek @neil
Probably many think in the similar way.
They also claim #Ihavenothingtohide.
I use cards only to withdraw money from ATM and to buy e.g airline tickets or very rare to buy something online.
I often even give a deposit in cash at hotels. If venues don't accept cash I go to other places. Is it tax evasion?
@rysiek @neil
I haven't said cash == tax evasion.
I said "cash has been the driver of tax evasion (...) like forever", so deriving one from another is a syllogistic fallacy.
Because cash has been the instrument of tax evasion, countries have long ago imposed KYC (know your client) and other AML (anti-money laundering) measures on financial institutions that include limitations on traveling with or paying with large sums in cash.
@kravietz
I didn't mentioned that you said that.;) It was a rhetorical q.
kyc and aml has been introduced to 'shoot' average Joe.
If I withdraw a bigger amount of money and a clerk asks me what the purpose of that is I answer 'to buy food'.
If you want to launder big amount of money you don't do it using cash. It's obvious. Legislators know that very well.
Bottom line is we all should use cash as often we can.
@rysiek @neil
I didn't mentioned that you said that.;) It was a rhetorical q.
kyc and aml has been introduced to 'shoot' average Joe.
If I withdraw a bigger amount of money and a clerk asks me what the purpose of that is I answer 'to buy food'.
If you want to launder big amount of money you don't do it using cash. It's obvious. Legislators know that very well.
Bottom line is we all should use cash as often we can.
@rysiek @neil
I don't know what is "obvious" here. You clearly haven't had much to do with services sector (car mechanics, builders etc) who will charge you +20% if you prefer to pay using any method that leaves trace in the system, like bank transfer - the difference being of course VAT, which they don't declare when using cash.
The KYC and AML measures don't prevent you from paying with cash for things, even in large sums, but they require that parties involved - sales agents, banks, solicitors etc - verify that you can convincingly document that the cash is a legitimate income.
Also, if you do buy expensive things for cash - such as cars and houses - the seller will be at risk of being paid with counterfeit bank notes. That's another reason to avoid cash.
In case of Bitcoin, the case for AML measures is even stronger - while small cash payments are absolutely normal and convenient thing in most countries, literally nobody uses BTC for casual purchases due to ridiculous volatility. As we speak, the largest market for BTC transactions is probably ransomware payments, and probably some international money laundering schemes, but tax authorities got pretty good at chasing the latter.